Curriculum and Staff Development Center holds open house

Kelli Kostue

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, December 16, 2003

J.C. Evans, the career and technology director with HISD, led attendees through the building. The CSDC, originally Charles Bender High School, was built in 1929 and served as a junior and senior high school. The building now has roofing, air-conditioning, ventilation, electrical, plumbing and structural problems.

The first floor currently houses staff from curriculum, word processing and records, instruction technology, career and technology, and also houses the old auditorium and gym. The second floor houses the food department, special education services and educational services.

Evans said the district has done a good job of using all available space in the building. He also said that, because of the age of the building, one issue they deal with is the risk of fire.

"There is a tremendous amount of Humble history attached to this building and we hope that someone in the community may find a way to use the facility," said Dr. Guy Sconzo, Humble ISD superintendent. "Having said that, it is also clear that extensive and expensive renovations and upgrades will be necessary to bring it up to modern codes and expectations."

Two major ideas that emerged from the event were to lease the building to the Atascocita Basketball League and to use the building as a performing arts center.

Stan McWilliams, the president of the Atascocita Basketball League, said the league is having to raise fees for players because their expenses are too high. The league pays approximately $19,000 each year to use gyms at Atascocita and Timberwood Middle Schools. They also use the gym at Humble High School for play-off games. This year players had to pay $130 to join the league, and McWilliams said there are becoming more and more players who cannot afford the rising fee.

The league also runs a scholarship program, which is available for anyone who has played in the league for four years. When the students go to college, they can apply for the $500 scholarship. They can apply each year they attend school while earning a bachelor's degree. Last year the league awarded five scholarships, but McWilliams said the league may be forced to cut the program if its financial situation does not soon change.

McWilliams said if the league were to get the building, all funding would come from local and nationwide investors, as well as the league, and that no one else would have to pay a thing. He also said the exterior of the building would remain exactly as it is except for a few needed replacements.

The league would allow for other organizations, such as other sports organizations, to use the facilities, as well as allow groups like HAAM, who currently use space in the building, to continue to do so.

Mary Ann Bordes and Sindi Sonnier are the proponents for the performing arts center concept. Bordes sees the center a combination of a performance venue, retail space and studios where classes can be taught.

"Children in the area could come see the arts," Bordes said. "It would attract people of all ages."

Sonnier said they would like to keep part of the building as a museum, and have plaques commemorating Humble's history. She said the combination of the performing arts center and a museum will be much more likely to pull people into the building than just a museum would.

"It's a museum, but it's actually pulling people in instead of leaving it to chance," Sonnier said.

Bordes said that some funding for the performing arts center will come from foundation grants, while the remaining amount would be borrowed from commercial bankers. Once the building is paid for, a portion of the profits will go to a preservation fund for the building.

Knox Winter attended Bender High School, but moved when he was a junior in 1963.

"It could be a place for people to go," Winter said. "It's beautiful and there's a lot you could do with it. It's a lot of old memories."

Winter said that the trees planted at the building were to honor local war heroes.

J.W. Ramshire said he wants to see the school district retain the building.

"They need to keep it," Ramshire said. "I don't think they need to sell it. They need to make it multi-functional, but it needs to go back to the community."

Alva Sadler also attended the open house. Her uncle, Floyd Burton, was superintendent of HISD from 1943 to 1961, when he was killed in a car accident. He also taught at the school before he became superintendent. Sadler said the school district will continue to pay large amounts of money for new schools, so she would like to see the building turned into a junior high or elementary school. She said it is one of the few historical buildings left in Humble.

Several people raised the question of how the building will be paid for, regardless of what option is finally chosen. Some said that the building should be preserved but that it should not in any way burden the taxpayers.

Cora Baker, who has lived in Humble since 1936, said it would be a good idea to ask Exxon for funding. She said that they might help because of Humble's oil history.

"It'd be a great thing for tourists," Baker said. "And I'm pretty sure it would be a tax write-off."

Alton Hues graduated from Bender High in 1959, and his mother graduated from there in 1932. He said it was a small school, graduating approximately 43 students in his senior class.

Mike Sarver said he hopes HISD will lease rather than sell the building. He said if they sell the building, an owner has every right to come in and level the building, which so many communities members do not want to see happen.

Mark Krueger, assistant superintendednt for support services, said that if the building is not used for educational purposes, it would be returned to the Bender estate. However, he said that often times, controllers of estates have no interest when several generations have passed.

"I had no idea we'd have this kind of interest," Krueger said. "I'm energized by what happened in this room."

Krueger said that he will report information from the open house to Sconzo and the schoolboard. He said they will then either make a decision or look for further ideas of what to do with the building.

"The school board makes the ultimate decision," Krueger said.

In January, all staff currently working in the building will move in January to the new Instructional Support Center on Magnolia Cove Drive off of Lake Houston Parkway in Kingwood. The ISC is twice the size of the CSDC and was built for the same cost as repairs and renovations to the CSDC would have cost.